Modern aircraft cockpits are becoming increasingly advanced with respect to avionics displays. Independent and separate conventional aircraft instruments are being combined into single multi-purpose displays that may be configured to show desired information from various aircraft systems as desired by the pilot or other crew member. Moreover, as technology improves, large portions of the aircraft cockpit may be replaced by one or more touchscreens that provide a user interface to any number and types of aircraft instrument displays. These touchscreens may allow a pilot or crew member to completely customize the instruments that are being displayed and where they are being displayed.
Although customizable touchscreen displays provide pilots with extensive flexibility to process vast quantities of information in an efficient manner, there are disadvantages to removing the traditional buttons, switches, and knobs that are common to traditional aircraft cockpit instrumentation. Specifically, the conventional cockpit controls not associated with touchscreen displays provide the pilot and crew with tactile reference points to which they are accustomed and trained to utilize with minimal visual attention devoted to locating and manipulating the controls. For example, in a conventional cockpit, the pilot typically knows exactly where a navigational display is located in the cockpit, where a corresponding control knob on the display is located, and is capable of reaching and turning the knob without diverting his or her attention from outside the aircraft or from some other task being performed simultaneously.
In contrast, in a cockpit in which the navigational display is depicted on a flat touchscreen, the conventional knob on the display may be replaced by a virtual knob or wheel that requires the pilot to precisely place his or her finger on the virtual control and rotate or slide the finger in a manner that changes the desired setting. While this action is not difficult, it may require accuracy and precision in that the pilot must find the correct location of the controls and perhaps repeatedly touch the same spot in a designated manner to control the instrument as intended. In order to locate the correct spot on the touchscreen to manipulate the desired controls, the pilot must look at the touchscreen and maintain visual contact while rotating, sliding, or pushing the virtual controls. This increased attention requirement as compared to the manipulation of conventional cockpit controls decreases the pilot's efficiency and increases the risk of an incorrect input or even of an incident due to the decreased ability to effectively multitask.
Moreover, due to the characteristics of a touchscreen display, parallax error may be introduced when a particular button or location is viewed from the side rather than directly in front of the button. This situation may occur with a display that is located between a pilot and co-pilot. The resulting parallax error may induce the pilot and co-pilot to touch slightly different locations on the touchscreen when attempting to touch the button. This inaccuracy may lead to an unintended press of an adjacent button, or an ineffective press of the desired button.
It is with respect to these considerations and others that the disclosure made herein is presented.